Free Enterprise Doesn’t Work, Claim Republicans

In a stunning reversal of what they have claimed all along, Republicans are now claiming that free markets can’t work without government subsidies. Republicans say that without the 8 billion dollars per year given to oil companies in the U.S. the companies, including Exxon, one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, would wither and die. Similarly agribusinesses cannot depend on market forces, they need farm subsidies to make a go of it.

And, most importantly, without the tax loopholes that constitute over half of the pages of the U.S. tax code, American business would actually have to pay corporate taxes and would just crumble. Sure, they have record profits right now but that is just a false front they are putting up to hide their fragility.

Republicans admit this is why they cannot come up with a single solitary loophole to close to effect tax reform. This is a true slippery slope, they say, and the entire house of cards would come tumbling down if they do.